Pukana Aloha is a beloved keepsake- for me being my family stories and genealogy. This blog is dedicated to Family History. I loved going with my dad as a child to talk story with our kupuna. Genealogy is such a blessing in my life. Besides serving as my research log, I'll share favorite tools, tips, sites, & things I learn.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Portuguese (Azores) Ancestors to Kaua'i

This lists my great-great-great grandparents and their children who arrived 1883 May 4 on the S.S. Abergeldie from the Azores to Hawai'i. Listed is Guilherme who is not listed in NFS, and missing are William, Jose, and Manoel (who are listed in NFS).

This may be my great-great-great grandparents Luis Joao Medeiros and Maria Augusta Nunes. Have to research this some more.

This is the 1900 census where my Medeiros Family is listed. Maria Pavao is listed as marrying a Perreira in NFS vs Pavao, and I think she is the same Maria listed on the HighFlyer above. It's weird that on the census her parents and she are listed as coming at different times...?...and the HighFlyer Manifest contradicts the Census information on her parents birth years. Hard to ever know if it was a transcription error in the manifest, or errors on the census. Both common.

This is a pic of theKoloa Sugar Plantation from the Hawai'i State Archives (lacking a date). This KHS site has also some historical documents related to it. My family lived in Koloa and the earlier census records I've seen list them as working there. My tutu said her father Louis John Medeiros was a luna who was murdered when she was two. That he came across some workers gambling in the field. I know his father, John Louis Medeiros, was a luna (these were plantation managers) according to earlier census records, and Louis John Medeiros started off as a chauffer, I assume for the big boss...?...She remembers living in the luna house and having a maid and bathing in a hot Japanese style furo, with her Portuguese relatives making bread in the outside oven. But she says all of that changed when her father died, due to conflict with her dad's family and her mother who she says they didn't really approve of because she was a Mormon and Hawaiian. His wife, my great-grandmother was Esther Kameakaulana Nu'uhiwa-a Keale-Nu'uhiwa born on a wa'a between Ni'ihau and Kaua'i. In her latter years, my tutu became very interested in her Portuguese ancestry and joined a Portuguese club. I had never really heard much of this side of her family before then. Mostly meeting mainly the Ni'ihau side.

My tutu says her dad's side was Catholic. (Which makes sense, obviously.) And that she herself was baptized in the Catholic church (which does so very early) though her mother was a staunch Mormon and she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she became of age. (We don't baptize children until they are at least 8 in the hopes that they understand the covenant.)

Anyway, I found a site that said St. Raphael's church in Koloa is the oldest on the island, so maybe when I go home next I will pay them a visit. Of course, what I need to do is talk to my Portuguese family still living. (Who my father has the contact information for.) Take my own advice I give when teaching, collaboration brings the richest rewards.